Hypothermia
by Frostbite Journals
Summary: Piers is locked in a freezer during a mission and his minds starts to weird out a little. Nivanfield alert.
1. Cold

_**Hypothermia**_

_**Chapter 1: Cold**_

**Um...this just kind of sprang to me. Writer's block lately though, which sucks. This story is entirely from the viewpoint of Piers Nivans. The deal here is, Piers is on a mission and spends a little too long in a freezer. Nivanfield alert. Enjoy, maybe...?—Chris**

Holding my rifle at eye level, I shot the J'avo right between the eyes. It fell down, howling, and holding it's head. I took a few steps forward, expecting a new mutation. I wasn't disappointed; the man's mouth hacked blood and green gunk before growing out, emerging with a three-pronged jaw and two tongues. It was hard to tell, but I think its left eye had two pupils now.

Suddenly my radio buzzed in my ear. "Piers? You there?" Chris's voice said. I held a finger to my ear and answered. "Yeah, I'm fine. Gimme a sec to take this last one down." I said, pointing my gun at the charging monster. _Blam. Blam. Blam._ Three shots into its mouth, and it fell. Despite that it was only one J'avo, I still felt proud of myself for barely even looking at it.

_Damn, it was cold, though._ I knew it was a horrible thought, but I kind of wished it had mutated into a Napad. That would have provided some extra heat. I was really glad for the thick military uniform I was wearing now. "Chris?" I said into my headpiece. I got static; I shook it a little and tried again. "Yeah Piers?" Chris said. "Kill confirmed. I'm gonna head back now." I said, drawing my outfit a little closer around me. "_Sh-Shit..."_ I muttered.

"Didn't catch that?" Chris asked.

"Nothing, nevermind." I said, feeling a blush creeping up my cheeks. I clicked off the com and walked over to the thermometer, dodging under a slab of meat hanging from the ceiling on the way. Wiping it clear of frost, I saw that it read 22° Fahrenheit. Yikes. I hefted my gun up onto my arm and turned towards the door.

Except there was already someone there.

Eyes wide, I ran for the door, but it was too late. With a grin, the J'avo slammed it shut with a loud _CLANG!_

"_No! No no no no no! Open this fucking door you zombified bastard!_" I yelled, hurling myself at the door. I rammed my fist into it, feeling my knuckles protest and wondering why they didn't break. Grimacing, I pushed and shoved at the door. But it wouldn't give.

"_Dammit...open!_" I said, striking the door several more times, which hurt like hell. Rage fueled up inside me at the thought of that J'avo. If only I was strong enough to punch boulders like Chris.

I took a break and looked down at my knuckles. They definitely _felt_ broken. Wait...I could see a purple-ish blue hue spreading out from the back of my palm. Touching one gently, I winced and yanked my finger away. Yep, they were broken. I shifted my weight and braced myself against the door with my shoulder. _All or nothing_. I said mentally.

* * *

That door was staying put. Panting, I slid down against it. It must have been fifteen minutes since I'd first went up against it. I felt a lot weaker than I should have. I gritted my teeth and pressed a finger to my radio for the third time. "_C-Chris, come in. Please, answer._" I said. Static. Fucking static.

I was getting seriously cold now. I looked over at the dead J'avo on the floor across from me. It felt all too much like it could spring to life and attack me again. Just to be safe, I raised my rifle and fired a shot into its chest. A little more blood splattered out, but the body didn't move.

Chris...pick up the radio. Where are you?

I wondered how long it had been. I could only guess five more minutes had passed. Time always seems to move slower when you wish it wouldn't. I breathed slowly, watching it steam in the air. Leaning back against the door, I begged for help.

"_Chris..._"

**Yeah, a lot shorter than my usual work, I know. -Chris**


	2. Frost

_**Hypothermia**_

_**Chapter 2: Frost**_

**My laptop erased all my writing X_X so I'm way too depressed to try to retrieve chapter 18 of Regeneration. Hypothermia, on the other hand, had nothing on there, so I was pretty much writing it from scratch anyway. So here is my Christmas present to you all: Chapter 2!**

I could swear that J'avo had moved since I had last turned around. Just an inch or so. I wished I had a watch. The clock on my radio had stopped working, just like the rest of it. I was still slumped against the freezer door.

"Th-Th-This s-s-s-suck-cks..." I muttered to myself, teeth chattering away. "Ch-Chris..." I whispered, closing my eyes. _Where are you? _I said in my head. _I need you here. _I closed my eyes again, and gave the door another series of weak poundings. It didn't give. It never gave. I must have been in here, what, twenty minutes? My core temperature needed to stay up, right? I remembered my physical health classes back in high school. The minimum core temperature a human could survive was about 80° Fahrenheit. Any lower than that, and frostbite settled in, you started losing your extremities (including your genitals), and you died.

So what should I do? I needed to conserve my energy, but then again, expending energy would keep me warm. Rigidly, I stood up. I took a few unsteady steps. Maybe I could just use enough energy to stay warm, but not exhaust myself. Yeah, that was the best plan of action. So, feeling awkward, cold, and uncomfortable, I started to walk slowly around the rim of the room. It wasn't a very big room, so it wasn't long before I was pretty bored. I kept at it though, like a ritual.

_Around...around...around...around...around..._

After I had done a few laps left-ways, I turned around and did it the other way, taking right turns now. I never took my eyes off of that J'avo.

_Around...around...around..._

I wish it would come to life. Just to give me something to do.

I thought. After being locked in a freezer by a J'avo, I was already relishing the next chance I would get to kill one. I thought of the J'avo's face, its wicked, fang-filled grin, its hand slamming the door shut...

The door! I realized I hadn't tried shooting the door yet! I checked my rifle—there were about fifty or so bullets left in it. Groaning inside, I realized I couldn't afford to just shoot holes in the metal until the thing collapsed. Mine was an anti-material rifle. That kind of sniper rifle puts a ton of force behind the bullets. Even through a door that thick, there was no telling how far the shell would go or who it would hit. And even though I really wanted to get out of this place, I wasn't willing to risk that.

I would just have to take the authorized approach: shoot the lock. I raised my rifle. It took a minute for me to aim, because I had to stop my hands from shaking. But when I finally had my sight right on the lock, I shot.

The bullet richocheted off.

_"F-Fuck..."_I said, gritting my teeth. I aimed again. This time the bullet exploded when it hit the lock, and created a sizeable dent in it. Another shot, and a few cracks appeard. "Yes!" I said, finally managing to still my jaw. I shot a few more rounds into it, and by the time I was done with it, the lock had been completely decimated. It fell to the floor with a clank. Rejuvenated, I ran to the door, and pressed my foot against it.

It didn't open.

"FUCK!" I finally yelled. I wedged my fingernails, against my better judgement, into the tiny crack between door and wall. Ice. The entire thing must be frozen shut. Frustrated beyond all restraint, I continued kicking the door. The only thing I got out of it was a sore toe. Well, my body heat was definitely a little higher now.

I waddled over to the thermostat. Which isn't even a correct description of what it was, because if it was a thermostat, I'd have been able to change the temperature in here. But there was no knob or anything for it. All there is was a white square with a temp reading, which now read 15°Fahrenheit. Damn, it was really cold in here. I briefly considered breaking the thermo**meter**, but if the thermostat or the refrigeration generator itself wasn't here, there was nothing I could really accomplish.

I resumed my slump against the slab of metal that had defeated me, before remembering I was supposed to be doing laps. I resentfully stood up again on wobbly legs, and resumed my pacing. I looked over at the J'avo.

_It was looking at me. It was smiling._

I shook my head. No it wasn't. It was still laying there, dead. I blinked. It wasn't even smiling.

I just kept pacing. This cold was doing things to my head. In more ways than one, I discovered when I reached up to feel my hair and felt frost forming in it.

_Well...maybe when Chris rescues me, I'll look kinda cool with white hair,_I thought. Chris...

Where was he? It seemed like too much of a coincidence that when I get locked in a fridge, I lose contact with him. Could the J'avo have done something to a radio tower nearby? Or worse...to Chris? I shuddered more from the thought than the cold. I hoped he was alright.

_Please be okay, Chris._

_Please, come find me. Where are you?_

I looked down at the radio again and brought it to my ear, trying again to get a signal between me and my captain. Just more static.

"_Piers?"_I heard. I blinked and looked down. Was I hearing things now?

"Piers? Piers Nivans, is this coming through? Answer, dammit!"

I wasn't hearing things! That was Chris's voice! I fumbled the radio and bought it to my cheek. "_Chris! I'm here, I can hear you!"_I yelped into it.

"Where the fuck are you, soldier? I was supposed to rendezvous with you twenty minutes ago."

"I-I'm in a freez-zer..." I chattered.

"A freezer?" Chris responded. "Why the hell are you in a freezer? Goddammit, where are you?"

"J-J-J'avo l-locked me in h-here, sir..." I spoke into the mouthpiece weakly. I heard an intake of breath on the line. "How long have you been in there, Nivans?" he asked softly. "Around that long. Twenty minutes, th-that is, captain." I answered.

"Shit..." Chris said quietly. "Where are you? Are you locked in?" he asked frantically.

"Yes s-sir..." I chattered. "Nova Street Butcher, Captain..." I said.

"Just hang on, buddy. I'm comin' to getcha." Chris said. "Keep in radio contact, would you?" he asked.

"W-Will do..." I responded, feeling weak in my legs. Chris was finally coming. My legs gave out, but I didn't care. I was going to be rescued.

The J'avo smiled again.


	3. Ice

_**Hypothermia**_

_**Chapter 3: Ice**_

**Okay, so I made a commitment to write before 8 PM every day for the rest of this week. And I'm sticking to it. Damn Tumblr... —Chris**

I seriously felt like shit. It was freezing, and I was very weak. I had vainly, stubbornly tried to stick to my laps around the freezer, but it hadn't worked for long. I think it had been maybe five minutes before I quit and slumped against the door again. Or maybe it was five seconds. All I knew was that this temperature had done an insane number on my body. Speaking of numbers, the last time I had seen the thermometer, it had read...

...at —23° Fahrenheit. How had it dropped so low so quickly?

I realized something. I hadn't been hallucinating. That J'avo had moved. It had smiled. It was still alive. I had approached it hesitantly, standing on its arms to prevent any movement. I placed my weak, blue fingers under its gargantuan jaw towards its throat, and felt nothing. Of course, that didn't mean anything because I couldn't feel _anything_in my fingers anymore. Well, I still felt cold and sore, but other than that my knuckles were very numb.

They were also bleeding? It was hard to tell. A blue liquid was seeping out of my knuckles. I couldn't tell if I was seeing my own blood as blue because the cold had screwed with my vision, or if I was just straight-up seeing things.

_Chris, why aren't you here yet?_

_?tey ereh uoy t'nera yhw ,sirhC_

**Where are you, Chris?**

It could have been twenty seconds or twenty minutes. My time conception was slipping away from me. Everything was so _dull,_just cold and ice and a body. A body that was playing dead.

_He isn't coming to save you._

"Sh-Shut the h-h-h-h-h, h-h-hell up." I said, aiming my retort at the J'avo. Bitch needed to keep his jaws shut.

"Piers?" my radio buzzed. I picked it up off the floor and held it gingerly. "S-S-See, yes...he...is!" I said, holding it to my ear and pressing the button. "Yeah, Captain?" I asked.

"I'm on Nova Street, and I'm heading towards the butcher. You hang in there, okay? I've got a few hostiles to deal with on my way there. I promise I won't be long."

Chris was making a promise to me. He never broke his promises. Never.

_SirhC edam em a esimorp. Eh syawla speek sih sesimorp._

How long did I have left before Chris saved me? Five minutes, ten?...Would I last that long? I looked over at the J'avo. It had moved, it had definitely moved this time. I didn't remember it looking that way when I killed it. But whether it moved or not, whether my memory was starting to suck, I knew it was still alive. Because I'd forgotten to notice one thing when I "killed it", and that was that the fucking body was even _still there! _J'avo bodies **burned away when they died, even in snowstorms. There would be no trace of it if it was dead.**

And I was out of fucking ammo.

Why does everything have to be so hard?

Five more minutes...

Just five more minutes...

He'll be here any minute now...

I know he will.

I closed my eyes. Just for a few seconds. I don't know if I slept. I don't think I did. Either way, the result of opening my eyes was painfully difficult. And the sight I awoke to was very, very irritating.

The J'avo was standing. Standing up, on it's feet. There was a bloody hole frozen into his head. But he was still standing.

Now I was definitely hallucinating. I rubbed my eyes to clear the image from my eyes. I opened them again. But it wasn't fading. He was still standing there, three-pronged jaw open slightly. This was seriously starting to piss me off. I blinked rapidly, but he wasn't moving. Well, he was moving, just not lying on the ground like he should be. He was moving towards me. Walking. I tried to sit up, but I was too weak.

He was walking a little too close to me. "C-Capt-tain..." I whispered into my radio, holding the button down as best I _could,_ but no response. I set the radio down at my ankle and grabbed my MP-AP. I pulled the trigger, and of course, nothing happened. My anti-material rifle was sitting at my side, but it was out of ammo too...or was it?

The devil walked closer in a painfully slow manner, three eyes and four pupils gawking ruthlessly at me. I picked up my rifle and checked the shells. Two left. I could take this guy out. Weakly, I lifted both my arms, which took a ridiculous amount of effort, and lifted the rifle up, aiming at his face. I watched him stop walking with my left eye, and looked through the scope, zoomed fully out, with my right. Neither of us moved for a full three seconds. I tried to get a decent hold on the gun in those three seconds, but I couldn't make my hand stop shivering. The whole thing was moving back and forth.

I squeezed the trigger.

And I missed. I couldn't believe it. I fucking _missed_. The shot flew right past his head and he didn't flinch. I've never been that inaccurate in my life. I _**never **_miss. Never!

Oh gosh...dammit...on the bright side, nobody _knew_about it. It didn't really count. Besides, I was really...impaired right now. I still had one bullet left. I had another chance to take his head off.

Well, no I didn't, actually. The mutated man-beast took one step forward and knocked the rifle out of my hands. And I couldn't do jack shit about it.

I knew I wasn't hallucinating now. And it sucked knowing that, it really did.

_Chris should have been here by now._

_Why isn't he here?_

_**Everything went black.**_


	4. Frozen

_**Hypothermia**_

_**Chapter 4: Frozen**_

**New Dell, can't get a fucking thing to work on it. No MS Paint, no MSO, no Word, no WordPad, WTF man I thought Dell at least loaded its computers with something worthwhile. Ugh, anyway, this is the last chapter. I can finally move on to other fanfictions after this. Enjoy! -Chris **

_"Piers? Piers, are you alright? Piers!"_ I heard.

I blinked and weakly brought my hand to my eye._ Oh, I see_. Everything had gone black because the freezer door had smacked me in the face when Chris had rammed it open. Chris swam bluish-white in my vision, kneeling over me. His hot breath engulfed me, bringing warmth, at least. I made a noise in my throat, and coughed. I hacked for a few seconds, then choked out, "Doing f-f-finnnne, cap-ptain..." I said. Gosh, I didn't feel good at all. But I didn't feel like frozen hell, and that was because of Chris's hands all over me, lifting my arms, pulling me up, throwing me into a fireman's carry. I was able to see the rest of the freezer as Chris carried me out, and the only sign of the J'avo that had been there was a small ring of ash on the floor.

"Ch...r...is?"

Flashes of light ignited in my vision as Chris started running. They looked sort of like explosions, but I couldn't be sure. "Just be quiet, Piers, we're gonna get you someplace warm." Chris told me, the sound of the sentence echoing around my head. A few bumps and Pass-the-Pierses later, I blacked out again.

* * *

I woke up again. It was like in the movies, where there's a bright light over you and you sit up from the cozy bed you were laying in. Faces swam around me. I couldn't make them out, but I could distinctly hear the voices of my teammates, and Chris. I looked down at my hands, which were wrapped in bandages. Something else was underneath them, something that dug into my skin and brushed the bones. It was either stitches or staples, I wouldn't know.

When I finally started to see faces, something was wrong with them. My stomach had a cold knot in it, but I ignored it. I could hear Carl talking to Finn about how my hands were going to have to make a speedy recovery in order to use my rifle. I looked up at them.

"Finn...?" I said, trying to figure out what was wrong. I couldn't place it...

"What is it, Lieutenant?" Finn squeaked out. Then I saw it. Finn had more than two eyes.

One, two, three, four...five...seven...six...three...my head hurt.

All the soldiers around me had more than two eyes. Some had deformed jaws. I knew my eyes weren't actually seeing this, but it still looked disturbingly real. The cold knot in my stomach got colder, my hands shook...

"Lieutenant...?" Finn repeated. I looked over where Chris was and gulped. But yes, he still had his normal face. It was a grimace, but it was his face.

"I want everybody out." I said.

"Piers, why? We just got here, you need support-"

"Everyone out." I repeated.

"Alright men, leave the guy alone. Let's go." Chris said, as everyone filed out looking disappointed. "Chris." I called out weakly, when it was just him in the doorway. "Stay. Close it." I said. Chris nodded and closed the door, coming over to sit next to me on the bed. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

I gulped again. The knot had found its way into my throat now. "Chris...my head, something's wrong..."

I immediately felt Chris's hand over my forehead. "What's the matter? Does it hurt?" he asked, concerned. I shuddered. "_Inside_ my head, Captain." I choked out. "I'm seeing things. Things I know aren't there, and it's starting to really get to me." I said. Chris's reaction was to lean over me and hold my right eye open, looking to see if my pupil was dilated or anything. It probably was.

I sighed, and I grasped his hand and pulled it away from my eye. Well, I pulled a little more than that. I pulled his whole body forward. Until he was right on top of me, until I could feel his warm breath on me again. The cold knot in my throat melted away when he was that close. "Listen Chris," I whispered, feeling his tenseness. "just don't leave me again, for a while, okay? Can you do that for me?" I begged him. He looked at me, eyes hard and soft at the same time. I thought his mouth moved a little closer.

"Will do, Lieutenant."

I breathed out, and let go of him. He didn't let go of me though.

Good, he kept his word.

* * *

Chris stayed close to me for the rest of the day. When I tried to grip and aim my rifle, he came over and helped me, even though we both knew weaponry was well beyond me after only a few hours. When I sat down for canteen call, he pulled my chair out for me. When I signed off for bed, he pulled me close and hugged me. I went to bed feeling much better than I had last woken up.

I hate the cold. I hated it with a burning, fiery passion that at least kept it at bay over the next few days. A thousand words couldn't describe how much I despised the cold at this point. I was never going near a freezer again.  
I hate the cold.  
I love Chris Redfield.

* * *

**Finally. Finally, I have completed it, and just as winter ends, too! I hope you've enjoyed this story! -Chris**


End file.
